A DWP leaflet included pictures of ‘Sarah’ and ‘Zac’, who were presented as sickness benefits claimants – except neither existed. The DWP now says they were for ‘illustrative’ purposes only.
Photograph: Jobcentreplus

A leaflet produced by the Department of Work and Pensions has been hastily withdrawn after it emerged that it contained fabricated quotations from fictitious people supposedly taking about their positive experiences of the welfare system.

The leaflet included pictures of “Sarah” and “Zac”, who were presented as sickness benefits claimants who had their some of their benefits withdrawn or had been threatened with benefit removal.

“Sarah” was quoted as saying that she had lost some of her benefit because she had initially failed to produce a CV. “I didn’t think a CV would help me but my work coach told me that all employers need one. I didn’t have a good reason for not doing it and I was told I’d lose some of my payment,” she said.

When she completed her CV, her payments were restored, the leaflet said. “My benefit is back to normal now, and I’m really pleased with how my CV looks. It’s going to help me when I’m ready to go back to work,” she was quoted as saying.

According to the leaflet, Zac said he had managed to change an appointment with his “work coach” without losing any of his benefit because he had a hospital appointment. “I had a good reason for not going to the meeting and proof of the appointment. My benefit payment hasn’t changed and we booked another meeting I could get to.”

DWP (@DWP)

You may have seen the case study story trending here on Twitter. To let you all know we've removed them now - they were illustrative only

The DWP was asked by the specialist website Welfare Weekly whether the comments used were from benefit claimants. Following their query, which was made under the Freedom of Information Act, the original leaflet was taken down from the DWP’s site and replaced with one that illustrated Zac and Sarah only in silhouette.

That was accompanied by a clarifying note that said: “The people in this factsheet aren’t real. We’ve used these stories to show how sanctions can work in practice.” However, that second leaflet was also deleted on Tuesday evening.

Responding to Welfare Weekly’s FoI request, the DWP conceded that: “The photos used are stock photos and along with the names do not belong to real claimants. The stories are for illustrative purposes only.

“We want to help people understand when sanctions can be applied and how they can avoid them by taking certain actions. Using practical examples can help us achieve this.

Labour leadership candidates condemned the department for producing the leaflet , with Andy Burnham saying the DWP had been “caught red-handed”, and Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall calling on the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, to apologise.

Jeremy Corbyn said: “The fact that the DWP has to make up quotes from benefit claimants saying sanctions are helping them, presumably because they can’t find anyone who says they are, not only shows how out of touch the Tories are, but also the effects their ideologically driven policies are having on people’s lives.”

A DWP source said that Duncan Smith would not have had any knowledge of the leaflet before it was published. According to a DWP spokesman the leaflet was produced by the ministry’s communications team, but Richard Caseby, the DWP’s director of strategic communications, later denied this. .

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Advertising Standards Authority rules state that “marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so”. The regulator’s rules also say that marketers “must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial or endorsement used in a marketing communication is genuine, unless it is obviously fictitious, and hold contact details for the person who, or organisation that, gives it”.

The Public Commercial Services Union said that it planned to write to the DWP to complain that it was irresponsible of the government to invent the stories to “illustrate the contentious belief that sanctions are welcomed by claimants”.

The union’s general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “It is disgraceful and sinister that the DWP has been trying to trick people into believing claimants are happy to have their benefits stopped or threatened. Sanctions are unnecessarily punitive and counterproductive, and should be scrapped.”

Unite’s assistant general secretary, Steve Turner, said: “This is a shameful attempt by Iain Duncan Smith to bend the truth and gloss over the human misery of his cruel sanctions regime.

“In the last two years, more than 2 million people have been sanctioned, often for just arriving minutes late to a meeting or, in some circumstances, for attending a family funeral. This has left people destitute and unable to heat their homes or feed their kids. Iain Duncan Smith should be scrapping his heartless sanctions regime rather than trying to defend them through made-up quotes and fictional characters.”

The charity Mencap also criticised the government, saying that the “DWP’s made-up case studies present an unrepresentative view of the sanctions regime and its impact on disabled people”.

A spokesman said: “Benefits are a lifeline to many people with a learning disability who rely on them to make ends meet. We know many people have been sanctioned because jobcentre staff don’t understand their needs and place unrealistic demands on them while not providing support they need. To mislead the public on the effects of benefit sanctions in this way is unacceptable.”

A DWP spokesman said: “The case studies were used for illustrative purposes to help people understand how the benefit system works. They’re based on conversations our staff have had with claimants. They have now been removed to avoid confusion.”

This article was amended on 19 August 2015 to remove a sentence which referred to the leaflet having been produced by “the communications team, which comes under the responsibility of the DWP’s director of communications, Richard Caseby”. Caseby denies that he had any knowledge of the leaflet.